OHA Side Story: The Mechanic
It had been a long day at school, her homework was mostly done, and studying wasn't much of a priority today. Horatia pulled out the chair to her desk, the wheels rolling against the wood floor. She sat down before rolling up closer to her computer. She turned it on, logging into her favorite MMO; Nexoria. She plugged in her headset, the other half of the team was already waiting for her. She spoke into the mic "Sup." It was short and simple, all that was needed at the moment. Leonid grinned as he heard the voice echo through his headset. He leaned back into his chair, facing his display. Three monitors next to each other, all displaying parts of the his favourite MMO. Normally, Leonid would cower at the thought of social interaction, but that was only in real life, where he had to face people face to face. Plus, it helped that the person he was talking to was an old online friend. "Heyo," he began, already spawning in the large world. Leonid was logged in under the name and was using his usual layout. His maxed out Warlock, with the unique "Glue" enchantment. He had gear best suited for his character, and was logging on to finish the set. He needed the Bloodmoon Staff, a weapon with a 0.1% drop rate. He asked Horatia, not only because she had an account on the level of his own, but because she was basically his only friend. Horatia would also be benefitted by the whole situation, as the Secret Boss they had to beat dropped an enchantment she had been wanting for sometime. "I'll meet you by the cave entrance." he spoke into the mic, a small grin appearing on his face. "Thanks for agreeing to help me out with this. How was school, if you don't mind me asking?" "On my way." Horatia replied, now on her way to the cave entrance. was her display name, admittedly she wasn't the best at coming up with names when she made the account, but it stuck, her usual nickname being Mon. Horatia was running her Barbarian, maxed out just like Leo. She was running her Boss Slayer load-out, being designed with the sole purpose of killing bosses. The Barbarian Class had numerous items that benefited certain play styles, her gear being designed to play the role of a tank. High health pool, high aggro, and fully decked out rage modifier to increase the amount of damage she does dependent on how much health she's lost. "Don't mention it dude, besides, we both know I'm mostly here for the enchantment." She joked, "As for school, it was alright. What about you? You told me you were transferring the other day." She'd reached the cave entrance, prepared to take on the boss. Leonid, nodded, testing out his APM by killing off some Goliaths nearby. Those were usually difficult enemies, but for Horatia and him, they were basically slimes. "Haha, we're just tools for each other, it seems." Leonid teased, maneuvering through the cave elegantly, avoiding the magma floor below them. He didn't have to check on Horatia, he knew she was more than good enough to keep up with him. "Yeah, I transferred today. Interesting class. The people are weird, and the teacher definitely smokes." Horatia was slightly aggravated that Leonid was moving ahead of her, being the tank, she was meant to be in front while he followed behind. It was alright for now, after all, they were cleaning out the trash mobs at the moment. "Oh man, sounds like you're in for it dude. So, what makes them weird?" Leonid rolled his eyes. "Don't get me started on them. I actually already know one of them, they're some trainee of a family friend. There's this one kid that keeps trying to get me to talk, he's so talkative. He thinks blue-haired people are weird, which uh. Is interesting. My teachers supposed to be this famous Hero, but all I can tell about him is that he definitely smokes. He has the traits for a smoker, and he has a kind of raspy voice at times." Leonid moved from stalactite to stalactite, weaving through them like it was nothing. "I'll aggro the boss, so theres a higher chance it spawns with your enchantment and my staff. Then we'll use our usual tank-spear combo thing. Sound good?" "Yea." Horatia agreed to the plan, which was essentially the priority at the time. Then she continued the conversation with Leo, "Ok, so that whole blue hair thing is weird. So, any clue what Hero your teacher is?" Horatia wasn't moving with as much flare as Leonid, but it got the job done in the end. Leonid landed in the bosses chamber, swinging around its staff. 's skull, which was ignited by flames, began to hum, releasing hundreds of small floating sparks. This was the will'o'wisp, a quick aggro technique used by Fire-Warlocks. The boss took the bait, launching out of the ground, slamming the ground around it. backed off, flipping back in order to allow Horatia to hop into the way. "I have no idea, I wasn't really paying attention in class." "But anyways, you won't believe this. My new neighbours have this kick-ass green lambo. Dad doesn't buy any cause they're "impractical", but I'm so buying one when I'm older." Horatia waited for after the aggro was drawn, after the boss slammed the ground, it was time for to join the fray. jumped from the ledge, grabbing her axe as she came crashing down on the boss. This was Furious Slam, a Barbarian attack which scales damage depending on how far down the user has to fall to hit the ground. The large menacing axe, almost twice the size of the avatar herself, cleaved through the boss, putting a bleed proc on the enemy. Now the boss' aggro was on her, just how she liked it. "First day and you're already not paying attention to the lessons. Not sure you'll be able to afford a lambo if you're not keeping track of your education." At the mention of a green lambo, Horatia looked outside, coincidentally, her neighbors had a car that matched the description. She didn't bring it up however, after all, there could be hundreds of green Lamborghinis in the world. "Yoo, speaking of new neighbors, some rich family moved in next door. I'm supposed to go over with my mom later today to welcome them to the neighborhood. Talk about a fucking drag." Long-range attacks, that was 's speciality. The flames from 's skull appeared on his right hand, and he aimed it towards the boss. A large spear shot from it, piercing through the boss and exploding into flames, which not only resulted in high damage, but a burn effect. That attack was "Napalm Piercer", a decently high-levelled attack that Leonid preferred to use to start off any fight. Not only that, the attack was designed to keep the aggro on Horatia's account, just the way she liked it. "Damn. Usually I'm the rich neighbour that moves in." he remarked. "For our new place, dad tore down three of the houses on the street and built up a mansion for us here." he continued. "I saw this curly-haired girl walking down the street while I was being driven home in the limo. She had these red loopy earrings that were sooooo bizarre." Meanwhile, getting up close and personal was where excelled. She used her "Battle Shout", a skill that temporarily increased the damage output of and all her allies. She followed up with "Brutal Cleave", cutting through the enemy in an upwards manner, not only did the bleed proc become more severe to the boss, but they were lifted upwards and stunned for a second, allowing a free hit or two. At the mention of a curly-haired girl with red loopy earrings, Horatia recalled seeing a limo drive by her on the way home. Not only that, but there were originally three houses next to her own, which was now where her new neighbors placed their home, which happened to be a mansion. "And, one of your neighbors wouldn't happen to have a red sedan, would they?" moved his hand in a circular motion, utilizing another technique; "Firework". The burn effect caused by the embers within the wound expanded outwards, exploding like a firework. The beast stumbled back, falling to its knees. clenched its hands, using the Glue Enchantment. Glue shot from the ground, wrapping around the beasts knees so it could no longer move. "...One of my neighbours do." Leonid responded, a strange suspicion arising in his mind. He looked out his window, and saw the window of his neighbours, shielded by an aquamarine curtain. "You wouldn't happen to have...a blue-green curtain? With a small tear near the bottom?" With the boss now kneeling before the Powerful Barbarian, took her mighty axe and used her "Execution" technique. It allowed her to immediately kill any enemy with 10% or less health. However, due to it's immense power, this technique was banned from PVP, a real bummer to Barbarians everywhere. With the axe, she cleaved the beast head from it's body, effectively killing it where it stood. Horatia didn't look at the drops from the battle yet. "Leo, come to your window." After hearing him describe her curtains almost perfectly, she decided to see if what they were obviously both suspecting was true. moved forward, looking through the area for any of the dropped items they were looking for. Luckily for them, they were there. quickly grabbed the Bloodmoon Staff and equipped it, a smirk appearing on Leonid's face. He grabbed the Blood Enchantment that had also been dropped, sending it over to . Leonid took rolled over on his chair to his window, moving his curtain completely to see...the same curly haired girl with red loopy earrings he had mentioned before. "H-Horatia? A-Are you wearing those weird pyjamas?" he asked, speaking into the headset, a slow smile beginning to appear on his face. Horatia took off her headphones, letting out an almost insane and joyous laughter. It was muffled by the window, so obviously Leonid couldn't hear and maybe that made the scene all the more confusing on his part. She opened the window, shouting with excitement "They're not weird, they're comfortable." And changing the topic in a simple second, "I CAN'T BELIEVE WE'RE FREAKING NEIGHBORS!" "GAAAAAAAH WE'RE NEIGHBOURS OH MY LORD!" Leonid exclaimed, excitement rushing through him. "Wha-GOD YES THIS IS GREAT! WHOO!" "IKR, THIS IS INSANE!" Horatia shouted, sheer enthusiasm in her voice. "WAIT-WHAT SCHOOL DO YOU GO TO NOW?" "I GO TO UA!" Leonid responded, half of his body out the window. He hadn't been this excited in...ever. "WHAT ABOUT YOU?!" "No.Freaking.Way." Another unbelievable coincidence coming to reveal itself. "I DO TOO! I'M IN CLASS 2-B, WHAT ABOUT YOU?" "OH MY LAWD!" Leonid revealed. These chances were unbelievable. "CLASS 2-A! OHMYGODWE'RENEIGHBOURSAAAAAHHHHH!" "OH.MY.GOD!" Horatia shouted, followed by what one could describe as an extremely loud and unholy screech. The Next Day "I still can't believe we're neighbors." Horatia stated, walking down the street alongside Leonid. "Yeah, it's crazy." Leonid responded. "OH WAIT, THAT WAS YOU ON TV THEN!" Horatia stood questioning what he meant for a second, then remembered the Sports Festival. "Oh yea, man wasn't it a bummer though? My first match was literally nothing at all. Then on my second match I lose because of stamina. Which sucked because I could've gone on for hours." Horatia began to tip over, purposely doing so to lean against and push Leonid over a bit. Leonid stumbled, laughing afterwards. "Yeah, it would've been great to see you as the winner of the Sports Festival. I wish I transferred earlier, I would've loved to be a part of that." he said, adjusting his hair underneath his hood. Leonid grabbed some of Horatia's hair gently, moving it in front of her eyes to obstruct her vision. "Yea, you've got next year." Before she could react, her vision was obscured. She felt the feel of someone's hands on her hair. "What the hell are you doing Leo!?" "I'M BLINDING YOU!" he exclaimed, laughing. He was fine being loud and...normal in a way around Horatia. She was, quite frankly, his only friend. "Yea, that's funny and all but I have an expending fear of going blind and you're kinda triggering a panic attack." Her voice sounded serious, bland and flat. Leonid let go of her hair, and looked down. "Sorry." Horatia gave him a soft jab in the shoulder, letting out a laugh. "I'm just messing with ya dork." Leonid glared at her. "WOW. Rude." Horatia returned the glance with a bit of sass, "You should know that by now." "Yeah, yeah." Leonid responded as they turned the corner. Only a few more blocks now. "I might be the only one in my class that doesn't use a Hero Suit." "Speaking of Hero Suits, mine is due for an upgrade. You wouldn't happen to know a guy who's good with high tech gadgets and shit would you?" Horatia asked, though it was a rhetorical question, she wasn't expecting much of an answer. Leonid smiled. "Don't I ever. I love the guy, he's like an older brother." he replied. "Er, he's not a Hero anymore though, but he's one of the best. He could help you out." "Ok, wow. I honestly wasn't expecting you to actually know a guy." Horatia was baffled, but a little joke may have actually brought her some fortune. "Well, if you know a guy, why the hell are we still sitting around here?" Leonid laughed. "I don't know where he lives, but he can probably send something to pick us up." The boy said, pulling out his phone, already beginning to send this mystery man a message. "Yea ok, totally not ominous at all." She sarcastically exclaimed, turning to him with a small smile. "I trust you though. But if I end up kidnapped, I'll judge you severely." Leonid placed his phone back into his pocket, having sent a text to the man in question. "If this guy kidnaps us, it'll be the sickest thing ever." As they continued walked, a limousine drove by. It stopped, and the doors opened. "Leonid, Ms. Janpu." a robotic voice echoed. "Please enter the limousine." Leonid grinned like a madman as he hopped in, looking back at Horatia. "Come on, lets go!" Horatia refused to set foot into the limousine, looking at it, then Leo, with obvious judgment in her facial expression. "So, a big fancy car operated by a freaking ROBOT shows up and you think it's a good idea to jump in? The damn thing could drive us off a cliff for fucks sake!" The boy rolled his eyes. "Uh, yeah. It's not controlled by a robot, it's an A.I." he said with a straight face. "Now hurry up and get in, or you might offend it." Horatia almost didn't take Leo's comment seriously. How could an A.I get offended? "What's it gonna do? Run me over?" Horatia joked, soon realizing that was a very likely option. She slid into the limousine, not the most peppy of the situation at hand. She could feel Leo's gaze, refraining from returning it. "Don't judge me." "I won't." A new voice responded. Sitting across from them was Andrei Sokolov, a former hero gone Vigilante. "Although, A.I are basically human brains but...made up of code. Took me a while to come up with this bad boy." Andrei adjusted his obsidian turtleneck, moving the red and gold briefcase next to him a bit closer to him. He smiled at Leonid, before turning to Horatia. "Leo here tells me you want to upgrade some gear?" he asked. He fidgeted with a black ring on his left pinkie finger, and a small panel burst from the car floor, hovering in front on Andrei. The sides of the limo had panels retract, revealing a bunch of technical gear. "I'd be happy to help." Even with her usual tough exterior, the sudden voice caused Horatia to jump. As she took in the sight of the man, her suspicion grew a bit more. As all the gear revealed itself, Horatia found herself astonished at the many gizmos and gadgets, yet keeping her composure in hopes everyone would ignore her moment of being shocked. She handed over her backpack, which carried her Pulse Pistols and Chronal Stabilizer. "Yea, work your magic man." Andrei grabbed the Stabilizer and stared at it, tossing it at the roof. Instantly it began to hover for some reason. Andrei turned his attention to the Pulse Pistols, setting them on the platform. He tapped the platform, and the schematics of the pistols manifested in front of him. "Ah. They target the pain receptors and...make them sting? And they're only accessible as pistols? Whoever made this could have done waaaay better." "It was meant to be practical. Something nice and simple to subdue a target and get out without weighing me down." Horatia looked around at all the technology, the original shimmer and shine eventually waning, she had already adjusted to the feel. She then turned her focus back to Andrei. "But please, if you can do better, I welcome you to do so." "Fair, but if you wanted to subdue a target, why not focus on overloading the pain receptors instead?" Andrei questioned, moving the code shown by the schematics onto another holographic screen by him, and started to code away. "I'd just have to add a higher voltage. But I'm also gonna add my own little adjustments. Make them more...easy to quickly use." He pulled out a virtual blueprint. "I had an idea for something like these years ago. They never worked out with my suits in the end, so I scrapped the idea." Once all the code had been finished, he moved everything into a virtual file. The platform along with the guns slowly floated down to the limo floor, and was eventually swallowed by it. "The car will make all the adjustments to those bad boys." Andrei looked at Horatia as he grabbed the hovering Stabilizer. "I notice something with increased particle speed features in this thing. Does it have something to do with fast movements? Time travel?" "Yea. My Quirk allows me to temporarily freeze time for 5 seconds as well as distort the Space-Time continuum to a degree, so I need the Chronal Stabilizer to keep my atoms and stuff from dispersing or vanishing from existence." Horatia added, questioning how so many things could fit in this one limousine. "Right, right. I don't have enough gear here to work on the modifications I'd make to it here, but I'll send you my version of it to your place soon." Andrei responded. Then, the platform reappeared, revealing two items; two black rings with cyan CPU-like patterns. "Meet your brand new...Ragnarök Revolvers." he said, taking a brief second to come up with names. Put these on each of your index fingers, and when you need the guns, double tap bottom of the ring with your thumb. They'll expand out into your gun, done so via sweet, sweet modular expansion." "And now they don't just give a little boo-boo to pain receptors, they overload them. Huge rushes of pain, it'll make them crash way faster. I would've added more to them, but not enough tech here." Andrei continued, finishing his little pitch. "Try 'em on." Horatia slipped the rings on, observing them and the cool new design Andrei had given them. Not only was it some super cool weaponry, but it doubled as some pretty nice jewelry too, looking good on her as well. "So I double tap here?" She double tapped the bottom as she spoke, the rings morphing into her new weapons. She was astonished at the design and was itching to see what they could do. "Badass..." She muttered to herself. "Glad you like em kiddo." Andrei responded. "I'll be making my version of your Chronal Stabilizer. A particle accelerator at a ridiculously small scale. Probably with a tachyon and an electron. A neutron might be more effective..." he murmured, mumbling as he began to run calculations in his head. Horatia continued to admire her new weaponry, whispering to Leo. "You gonna ask him about making you a hero suit while we're here?" "Oh, uh." Leonid responded, the question taking him by surprise. "He already started working on that, it'll be delivered to my place in a few more days." "Sweet." She finally stopped admiring the guns, which turned back into the rings. She then decided to formally thank Andrei. "Thanks for the badass new upgrades. I was sketchy about your limousine at first but, this turned out pretty nice." Andrei smiled. "No problem. Working on tech distracts me from real life issues, so I'm always happy to help." "We all have ways of drowning our sorrows." She replied, giving a relating smile in return. The limousine stopped, the doors opening. Andrei hopped on out with the red and gold briefcase, and gestured for the kids to get out as well. Horatia got out of the car, extending her hand to help Leo out as well. "Where are we?" Leo took her hand, grateful for the help out. Andrei looked at the pair. "We're at some street corner." "Is this the part where you introduce us to your suspicious group of friends?" Horatia joked, yet her face was still and serious. "Nope." Andrei responded. "This is the part where I ditch you and the cops." "Wait what?" Horatia replied cautiously. "Yup." Andrei continued, setting his briefcase on the ground. The limousines cars closed, beginning to drive off. "Cops are after me, ya know?" "I-I DIDN'T KNOW THIS! LEO, HOW DARE YOU HAVE RELATIONS TO A CRIMINAL!" Horatia stood, looking at Andrei with caution. "He's not a criminal persay." Leonid responded. "He was that Pro Hero, Hephaestus. He's a Vigilante now." "You know. I was led to believe you were shy, but apparently you have relations to vigilantes wanted by the police." She gave a bit of sass, looking towards the distance. "I know the way back home from here, should we get going?" "He's like my brother." Leonid retorted. Andrei laughed. "Funny girl." he remarked. He tapped the briefcase and it suddenly began to expand, shifting into ROMEO. Andrei stepped into the suit and began to hover. "I'll get you your new stabilizer soon." he said, shooting off into the sky. "You know, despite how sketchy he is, he makes some kickass gadgets." Horatia replied, watching Andrei disappear into the evening sky. "Kickass is mild way of putting it..." Leonid murmured. "What now?" he asked, turning to face Horatia. Horatia begun walking, turning around to face Leo with a massive smile. "Home of course, it's about time for dinner Petrov." She teased him, simultaneously urging him to come along. Leonid smiled in response. "What do you want for dinner?" "Look, we both know I'm going to eat at your place whether you want me to or not." Horatia responded, "So whatever rich people stuff your folks are getting, sign me up." Leonid rolled his eyes. "Girl, please." he responded. "I already know you're coming over. What kind of cuisine do you want though? Cause then I tell the chefs what to make." "I tell the chefs what to make." Horatia mocked, "Man, you rich guys are something else huh?" She gave it some thought on what she wanted to eat, settling on a little reminder of her extended family. "Haven't had Italian in awhile." Leonid rolled his eyes. "At least we're not at our Moroccan Estate. They only serve the wackest cuisine." he joked. He pulled out his phone and texted rapidly before tossing his phone back into his pocket. "Italian it is. Wanna walk home or get a ride back?" "You say wack, I say boujee." Horatia joked, as Leo asked her for terms of transportation, she began walking. "Much more peaceful, plus it keeps you in condition." She smiled, waiting for him to catch up. Leonid laughed, jogging before beginning to walk. "That it does, Horatia. We're only a block or two away from the place." "Yea. I know." Horatia gave a bland response, looking at Leonid with playfully judgmental eyes. "I've been living here longer than you have." "That...is very correct." Leonid responded, pushing her slightly. "How long have you lived here anyways?" She gave a smile at the slight push, "All my life really. My parents weren't too big on moving since they've been saving up to travel the world. Do your folks move around a lot?" "Yeah, we've been all over the place..." Leonid responded. "Always sucked, never really had close friends cause of it. Or friends in general." "Well, you've got me now Leo." Horatia gave a nudge, smiling a bit. "But at least try to socialize with the kids in Class A yea? Any of them tried chatting with you?" "Yeah, you're great." Leonid responded, a small smile on his face as well. "Socialize? We both know that doesn't end up going...well. But yeah, this weird black haired dude. Australian accent kinda lingered there...weird guy." "Kusari, he's an interesting one, he's actually a transfer from Australia. But he's one of the easier ones to get along with. Not to mention he's probably on good terms with a lot of the class." Horatia added, giving Leonid a bit of advice when it came to socializing. "You get one friend, they introduce you to their friends, then bam, next thing you know you've got a whole bunch of friends." "Too much work." Leonid responded. "Plus, I have no intention of meeting your dick appointment guy." "Oh please, I had no intention on you meeting him anyway. Besides, he and Kinzoku aren't on good terms anyway, so you won't have to meet my "dick appointment guy" if you're hanging out with him." Horatia sighed, "you're helpless." "Oh thank the lord." Leonid murmured. "I don't wanna meet someone who's apparently really arrogant." "He may be too much for you, but I can always put his attitude down when it gets too much." Horatia added, "So, you're a blank slate with everyone in the class eh? Guess I'll have to help you socialize." Horatia joked, but there was a bit of seriousness in her statement. "No, no, no." Leonid responded quickly. "No socializing for me, nope nope." "Yes, yes, yes!" Horatia responded directly after. "Dragging you out to parties, yep yep." "Please no," Leonid begged. "I can't handle socializing." "Oh please, It won't kill you to get out a bit." Horatia responded, "You have to experience before you get better."